Today in History for Sept. 1, 2014

Aaron Burr

Sept. 1, 1807 – Former U.S. vice president Aaron Burr was acquitted of treason in U.S. Circuit Court in Richmond, Va. due to lack of witnesses, despite the full force of the Jefferson administration’s political influence against him. Burr was accused of plotting to annex parts of Louisiana and Spanish territory in Mexico to be used toward the establishment of an independent republic.

Sept. 1, 1813 – The Kimbell-James Massacre occurred at Ransom Kimball’s large cabin about one mile from Fort Sinquefield in Clarke County, leaving 13 women and children dead. Six survivors escaped to the fort.

Sept. 1, 1824 – During his extended tour of the United States, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Sept. 1, 1841 – James G. Butler was commissioned as Monroe County’s Circuit Court Clerk.

Sept. 1, 1862 - Confederates captured Lexington, Ky., and Union General John Pope evacuated Centerville, Va.

Sept. 1, 1862 - In Virginia, the Battle of Chantilly took place two days after the Confederate victory at the Second Battle of Bull Run. Confederate General Robert E. Lee attacked retreating Union troops in the middle of an intense thunderstrom. Union officer Philip Kearny was killed when he accidentally rode behind Confederate lines at Chantilly, and General Robert E. Lee later returned Kearny's body under a flag of truce.

Sept. 1, 1864 - Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman laid siege to Atlanta, Ga., a critical Confederate hub, shelling civilians and cutting off supply lines. The Confederates retreated, destroying the city's munitions as they went.

Sept. 1, 1859 - A solar superstorm peaked with a massive coronal ejection heading directly toward Earth. Known as the Carrington Event, this powerful geomagnetic storm caused the failure of telegraph systems, and auroras were seen all over the world.

Sept. 1, 1875 – American novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago.

Sept. 1, 1890 – Rube Burrow single-handedly robbed the northbound Louisville & Nashville passenger train No. 6 on the Escambia River, northeast of Flomaton. This was his eighth and final train robbery.

Sept. 1, 1894 – E.J. Ricou was appointed Monroeville postmaster, succeeding Mrs. M.C. McLean who resigned.

Sept. 1, 1896 – John D. Watson was commissioned as Monroe County’s Sheriff.

Sept. 1, 1902 – “A Trip to the Moon,” arguably the first science-fiction film, premiered in France.

Sept. 1, 1904 – Johnny Mack Brown, nicknamed “The Dothan Antelope,” was born in Dothan, Ala. He would go on to star as a halfback at Alabama and help lead the Crimson Tide to the 1926 national title. He later had a long, successful career as an actor in Hollywood.

Sept. 1, 1906 - Jack Coombs of the American League’s Philadelphia Athletics pitched 24 innings against the Boston Red Sox.

Sept. 1, 1934 - Following Alabama's lead, a nationwide textile strike began, with 15,000 Alabama workers among the 400,000 strikers nationwide. The Alabama strike, which had started in July, had survived threats of violence and even the brief abduction of strike leader John Dean. The largest walkout in Alabama and U.S. history at the time, the strike ended Sept. 22 after mediation efforts by the Roosevelt administration.

Sept. 1, 1950 – Army SFC Robert L. Booker of Conecuh County and Army PFC Willie D. Daw of Escambia County were killed in action in Korea.

Sept. 1, 1955 – Byron Warren became the new Ford dealer in Conecuh County when he bought out the old Evergreen Motor Car Co. and changed the name to Warren Ford Co.

Sept. 1, 1964 - Pitcher Masanori Murakami became the first Japanese man to play in U.S. baseball’s major leagues. Murakami pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the San Francisco Giants in a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets in front of 39,379 fans at Shea Stadium.

Sept. 1, 1970 – E.G. Kivette got 54-1/2 cents per pound for his first of the season cotton bale from Eugene Darby of the E-Z Flo Chemical Co. of Owassa when the bale was auctioned off at the L&N Depot by Evergreen Mayor Henry Sessions. The 665-pound bale was ginned at the Castleberry Gin Co.

Sept. 1, 1978 – The Alston-Cobb House (Clarke County Historical Museum) in Grove Hill was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage.

Sept. 1, 1988 – Gov. Guy Hunt declared Castleberry the “Strawberry Capital of Alabama”

Sept. 1, 1994 – The first ever J.F. Shields-J.U. Blacksher football game was played in Beatrice, and Shields won, 20-18.

Sept. 1, 1998 - Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals hit his 56th and 57th homeruns to set a new National League record. He would eventually reach a total of 70 for the season on Sept. 27.

Sept. 1, 2007 – “Into the Wild,” a film based on Jon Krakauer’s 1996 best-selling non-fiction book of the same name that tells the true story of a young adventurer who died in Alaska, debuted at the Telluride Film Festival before opening in wide release the following month.